Blame Gilbert
by nedcans
Summary: The story of how Matt falls for a certain Dutchman, all because of an overbearing, blind German.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure you two are ready for your first day?" Francis asked, placing a plate of crepes on the table for his sons and husband to eat. "Yeah, Papa. I'm sure this school will be a lot better than the hockey-obsessed shithole we were at last year!" Alfred exclaimed, teasing Matt. "Alfred. Language," Arthur warned as he sipped at his tea. Alfred rolled his eyes and shoveled crepes onto his plate. "I've heard their football team was worse than East Calgary's hockey team." Matt said, grabbing a maple crepe off the plate. "Good! I'm good at football! Unlike hockey, where I couldn't even lace my boots!" Alfred said, his mouth half full of crepe.

"You're just jealous that your brother was captain of the hockey team and you were a benchwarmer." Matt huffed, taking a bite of his own breakfast. "Oh, come on. Hockey is a loser sport anyways. There aren't even cheerleaders." Alfred sounded deeply offended. "You're just mad you busted your tooth the first game you played. And there are cheerleaders, they're called ice girls!" Matt was also deeply offended by his brother's ignorance of the greatest sport on earth.

"Now, now. Finish your food quickly, let me take you to school." Francis laughed. The boys finished their meal, and went out to the garage to Francis's Volkswagen. Francis pressed a kiss to his husband's lips as he left, ready to get his sons to school.

They got to school quickly. It was only a 10 minute drive to the school. Matt and Alfred could have easily walked, but Francis often was overbearing with his son. They got out at the school, and Matt had to admit, he was nervous. He had lived in Canada all his life. Arthur and Francis adopted Matt from Alberta when he was 3, and they lived there for Matt's whole life. (They had adopted Alfred from a Montana adoption center when Matt was 6.) Moving to a suburb outside of DC was a huge culture shock for Matt, and he was sure school was going to be the same way.

The brothers got to school a while before it started, so they could get their schedules and find their classrooms. Matt and Alfred's schedules clashed pretty badly, but Matt didn't expect to have any classes with his brother. Both were smart, but Alfred was smarter in math and science, while Matt preferred language and history. Their classes were all pretty close together, though, and at least they could talk to each other in the halls so they wouldn't look like total losers with no friends.

By the time they figured out their classes, the bell hang rang signaling them to go to 1st period. They both had math first period, but, Matt had Personal Finances while Alfred sauntered into Calculus II. Matt, who tended to cling to his brother at times in order to make friends, was surprisingly okay with not having that class with Alfred. Personal Finances was way more his speed.

Since he was already in the hallway, Matt was the first one in the class. Well, the teacher was there. He was a pretty short blond dude with green eyes. "Hello. Who are you?" He asked, and his accent sounded Germanic. "I'm, uh, Matt Kirkland-Bonnefoy. I'm in this class." Matt answered. The blond man thought for a moment, before nodding. "You're the new student. I'm Mr. Zwingli." The blond extended his hand, and Matt shook it.

"Great. Where is everyone?" Matt said after taking a seat in the front. His eyesight was bad, he liked sitting in the front. "Considering my class is known as the 'lazy math class,' plenty of slackers take it. I've dealt with this for years now, they'll all show up 2 minutes before the bell rings." Mr. Zwingli said, and Matt nodded. And Mr. Zwingli was right. When the clock struck 8:28, 20 or so less than reputable looking students came into the class. One of them caught Matt's eye; he was tall, lean, extraordinarily pale, with a white shock of hair. He had on extremely dark glasses, and he had a white cane. He was hitting a small brunet with said cane. Said brunet seemed like he was going to go off on the apparently blind albino. Matt sat in his seat, laughing.

The brunet took a seat in the back, and the albino approached the front row. When the class had started, there were plenty of seats in the front row, but, they had all been moved further to the back by the less than reputable looking students. There were two seats left in the front row. The albino hit Matt's seat with his cane, which startled Matt. "Anyone sitting in this seat?" The albino yelled. He had a very loud, very German accent. "Uh, yes?" Matt said. "Cool, cool. What about this one next to Canadian here?" Albino hit the seat beside Matt. "Empty. Uh, how do you know I'm Canadian?" Matt asked.

"Well, when you're blind, you pick up some dumb skills. I'm good with picking out accents." The albino said, and leaned back in his chair, propping up his feet. "I'm Gilbert, by the way. I'm guessing you're new?" The albino, Gilbert asked. "I'm Matt. And, yeah. Just moved here from Calgary." Matt said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "And, you weren't happy about that?" Gilbert asked with a smirk. "No, no, I was fine with it. My dad needed to move for work, it's cool." Matt replied. He didn't really want to get into his life annoyances with some blind kid he had just met.

"I think you're lying, but, let's talk later. Vash is about to get to teaching." Gilbert laughed. "Just because I'm friends with your cousin doesn't mean you can act so casually in my class. Put your feet down." Mr. Zwingli seemed disgruntled at the albino's use of his first name. "I usually don't pull the blind card, but, my feet are sore, and I'm definitely pulling the blind card." Gilbert said smugly, and kept his feet up. From the tone in his voice, Matt assumed that Gilbert was lying, and he pulled the blind card a lot.

"Put your feet down or I'm opening the shades on the window," Mr. Zwingli warned. Gilbert gave him a shocked look. "That's harsh. And probably cruel and unusual punishment." He said, but defiantly kept his feet up. Mr. Zwingli made exaggerated sounds as he walked to the window and opened the shade slightly, making sure Gilbert knew what he was doing. A ray of sunshine hit Gilbert's arm, and he made a dramatic scream. "It burns!" Mr. Zwingli didn't relent, in fact he opened the shade a little more. "Fine! Before you give me melanoma!" Gilbert shouted, and put his feet down. Matt laughed. This was sure to be an interesting class.

And boy, Matt was right about that. Turns out Zwingli used to be really involved in offshore banking in Switzerland, and knew a whole lot about making money. Gilbert also knew a whole lot about Zwingli. Apparently, their teacher had been best friends with Gilbert's cousin Roderich for basically his entire life. They talked about him almost through the entire class, much to Zwingli's dismay.

"So, what's your next class?" Gilbert asked Matt as they left Zwingli's class. "Uh, Current Events." Matt asked after checking his schedule. "Very awesome. Mine's European History. Probably. I don't fucking know, I had a bit of a problem reading my schedule." Gilbert laughed, and Matt laughed back nervously. Was it okay to laugh at blind jokes? Matt didn't know. "Come on, don't be scared. It was a joke. I can read my schedule, I'm not _that_ blind. My baby brother printed it out really big for me, see?" Gilbert pulled out his schedule, and wow, that was some big font. "But let's talk about my sight, or lack thereof, another day. Right now, you're about to get your first blind kid escort to class."

Gilbert grabbed onto Matt's arm, and pulled him down the hall, swinging his white cane wildly. "Blind guy coming through! Let the blind guy and his friend walk! Make way!" He yelled, occasionally hitting a student with his cane. Matt tried apologizing, but eventually he gave up and tried to get to the end of the hall as fast as possible. "Wait for me after class. I've got something to show you." Gilbert said once they had reached their classes. Matt nodded, and he went to his Current Events class.

The teacher was a total hippie. Matt was pretty liberal himself, but, this guy made Gandhi look like Rush Limbaugh. His name was Mr. Jones, and for the first 20 minutes of class, he talked about the Free Palestine protest he had attended earlier in the month. He was a total hippie, and he actually had Marxist writings on his bookshelf. Matt was looking forward to that class for the rest of the year.

After class, Matt met up with Gilbert to see whatever it was the albino wanted to show him. He didn't have to wait long; Gilbert got around pretty fast for a blind guy. He also seemed to know the school pretty well, and dragged Matt down a hallway towards an undisclosed location. "Gilbert, where are we going? I have AP English after this!" Matt tried to protest, but Gilbert kept dragging him. He was a pretty small dude, but man, he had a grip.

"Really? Me too!" Gilbert exclaimed while they walked. That confused Matt. AP English Language was about writing and reading, and he wasn't sure how Gilbert could do that with his limited sight. "Ha! I'm totally joking. I have to take a special needs English class with large print books and screen-reading software. But you should have seen the look on your face!" As soon as it was out of Gilbert's mouth, Matt knew what phrase was going to follow it. "You really should have, because I sure didn't." Yep, Matt had known him for 3 periods and already could predict things like that. He didn't know what that said about Gilbert.

Eventually, Gilbert stopped in front of the cafeteria. "So, what is it you wanted to show me?" Matt asked. The bell had rang a while ago, and Matt hated the fact that he was late to a class so soon in the school year. "What? Oh, I just wanted you to skip class with my friends and I." Gil smirked, and Matt gave him an uncertain look. "Uh, this is my first day here, I shouldn't skip class-" Matt tried, but Gilbert cut him off. "Oh, please. It's just the first day, you won't miss anything." Gilbert started pulling him into the cafeteria. "But what if we get caught?" Matt was pretty fearful of punishment. "I'll pull the blind card. Works every time. But we won't get caught, because no one cares at this school."

Gilbert seemed to have some issues with finding wherever he wanted to go. He stood in the middle of the cafeteria, waving his cane around. "They've moved all the tables around. I know my friends are here, but I don't know where." Gilbert looked vaguely annoyed. "Damn it, you're going to have to help me out. They're probably sitting somewhere in a corner but I can't guarantee that. Look for a big Spaniard and an even bigger Aryan, among a few others." Matt could tell Gilbert didn't like having to have people help him, so he tried to find the guys as fast as possible.

Turns out, it wasn't that difficult to find a motley crew like Gilbert's friends. They were in the far right corner, and Matt pointed that out to Gilbert, who grinned and held out his arm. "Your turn to drag me around. Take me to them." So Matt did, blushing slightly. People were staring, it was a bit embarrassing. He got Gilbert to his friends as quickly as possible and turned to leave to go to class, but Gilbert grabbed his arm and kept him from doing so.

"Alright, friends, this is Matt. Matt, this is my friends. The big Aryan I told you about is my brother, Ludwig. The Spaniard is my lifelong best friend, Antonio. There's more people here, I can tell that. I'm not that blind. But I can't tell you who they are. You'll have to find out who they are on your own, Matt." Gilbert said, and hit around with his cane for a while until he found an empty seat. When Matt didn't sit, Antonio called him out on it. "Go ahead and take a seat, Matt! If you're friends with Gil, surely we'll get along great!" He said cheerfully.

"Uh, that's fine. I actually need to get back to class." Matt stuttered. "Finally, bruder, you get a friend with sense!" Ludwig exclaimed, and Matt laughed nervously. "Oh, please. You're skipping class too, Lud." "No, Feliciano and I actually have this lunch. You all are the skippers." Ludwig said defiantly, and the small redhead beside him (Feliciano?) nodded excitedly, probably not even registering that Gilbert couldn't see it. "Feli is here? Tell the little scamp I said hi," Gilbert grinned. "You're blind, not mute. Tell him yourself."

While the brothers bickered back and forth, Antonio once again tried to get Matt to sit down. "Come on, sit! We won't bite. Okay, Lovi might." Antonio gestured to the brunet beside him. Matt recognized him as the brunet that Gilbert was harassing with his cane in 1st period. "It's _Lovino,_ not Lovi." He corrected. Matt nodded. "I-I understand that, but, _class_-" Matt tried again to get away from the group and to his English class. "Come on. There's an empty seat beside Jan. Eat with us." Antonio insisted again.

Gilbert seemed to perk up when he heard the name 'Jan.' He turned to Antonio, and grinned. "Flying Dutchman's here? Where?" He asked, and the large, handsome blond to his left tapped his shoulder. "Been here this whole time," he said. "Oh, Jan! I haven't seen you all summer!" He pulled the man at his left into a haphazard hug. "Sorry for being rude, I just didn't see you there!" Gilbert laughed his very distinctive laugh, and Jan just chuckled and pushed the albino off.

"Matt, right? Come sit next to me." Matt was startled when he heard his name called. He hadn't even been paying attention, he was worried about getting to class, but Jan had called his name and was beckoning for him to come and sit with him. And, for some strange reason, Matt did. He went and sat right beside Jan. He talked to all Gilbert's friends, and got along with all of them, but for some reason, he got along best with Jan.

Matt discovered the reason why he got along so well with Jan about halfway through lunch, when they were all discussing the countries they moved from. Gilbert and Ludwig moved from eastern Germany when Gilbert was 5 and Ludwig was three, because their grandfather who had raised them grew up in the Soviet Union, and wanted to leave the area as soon as he had the available funds. Lovino and Feliciano were born about a year apart in Italy while their very American parents worked in Rome, but were American citizens. Antonio wasn't even born in Spain; his father was a Spaniard, and his mother was Hispanic. He was born in America. Jan, however, had only moved to America a few months before Matt did, and was still experiencing the same culture shock that Matt was.

By the time Matt had really stopped worrying about the class he was skipping, the bell rang, signaling that this lunch period was over. The entire table groaned in response to it, but all got up anyways. The blind kid and his friends could get away with skipping every once in a while, but two lunch periods in a row would definitely get them caught. They threw away whatever food they had bought, and headed to their next 4th period class.

Matt's 4th period was AP US History, which was also taught by Mr. Jones. The class flew by; Matt was good with history, and he was really starting to like Mr. Jones. After that, Matt went to his 5th period, Chemistry. To Matt's pleasant surprise, most of the friends he had made while skipping English were in the class. Gilbert, Lovino, and Jan were not only in the class, Matt got to be in their group for the entire year.

The 4 ended up goofing around all class, and they would surely goof around the entire year. The teacher, Ms. Hedervary, was Gilbert's cousin's fiancée, and generally let them do what they wanted. That was pretty great. Matt went into the class dreading doing any sort of science, but it ended up being actually not that bad.

After chemistry was lunch. Since Jan and Lovino weren't juniors, they ate lunch at a different time, but Matt shared his lunch with Gilbert and Alfred, which was fine by him. The two friends took their seat at the table they had claimed when they had skipped before. Matt sort of half hoped that Alfred would show up and sit with them, but Matt never found him. Matt decided to use this time of relative solitude to ask Gilbert something that had been eating him alive all day.

"So, you're blind, right?" Matt asked. Gilbert gave him a very done look, and reached his cane up to tap Matt on the head with it. "I thought we had established that already." The albino laughed, and put his cane back down. "No, I mean- I'm legally blind without my glasses. I've got 20/200 vision, I'm just wondering what your vision is? Because you had said that, you weren't totally blind." Matt stuttered out. He was sort of embarrassed; he didn't know if that was something that it was okay to ask.

"I'm 20/4000. Being an albino severely messes with your sight, and it also means that contacts and glasses don't really work. My vision's been really declining, and at this point the best it can be corrected to is 20/800. Which is still damn-near blind. So about 9th grade, I said, fuck it, and I adopted the black-glasses-white-cane look I sport now. And I'm glad I learned to be blind before it got as bad as it is now." Gilbert said, and Matt hummed in understanding. "Okay, so I answered that question. Now you get to tell me why you were so pissed about having to move here." Gilbert smirked.

Matt sighed. He felt obligated to answer after Gilbert spilled his guts about his eyes. "A few reasons. One is the fact that I was probably one of the best hockey players in Alberta, even counting the two NHL teams in the province. I was going to get scouted by the NHL, I was sure of it. Now there's no hockey team, and there goes my dreams of the NHL." Matt said.

"You said there was more than one reason, you can't just stop now. My interest is piqued." Gilbert said, and despite the fact that he was staring off behind Matt, he looked enthralled. (Matt really couldn't blame him for his lack of eye-contact.) "Then there's the fact that I have two gay dads, and America is a pretty homophobic place." Matt said, and Gilbert 'ahhhh'ed, as if he had just understood something. "Matt, all my friends are gay. Every one of them. I'm pretty gay myself, at times. I think we're the only queer people in the entire school, but, we're all out. It's not a homophobic place." Gilbert said. "Oh, okay. That makes me feel better. I mean, I'm bi, so hopefully I can fit into your homo club?" Matt asked jokingly, and Gilbert laughed. "You're welcome in our homo club any day."

After lunch, Matt had a block class. It was Advanced French Language and Literature, a class that Francis had forced him to take. Matt was fluent in French already, and didn't need a class teaching him things he already knew, but he took it to please his Papa. That didn't stop him from being bored out of his mind the entire 90 minutes he was in the class. The teacher, Ms. Talma, was a beautiful, dark-skinned woman from Seychelles. She kept her dreads in pigtails, and she was a really sweet, fun teacher, but she assigned reading on the first day of class. It was just the French version of Candide, something Matt could finish in 30 minutes, but it still made him groan.

But luckily, after French, school was over. At the front of the school, Matt met up with Alfred and they found Francis easily. On the drive home, their papa was eager to ask them about their first day at an American school. "How did it go?" He asked as he drove them back home. "It was okay. Classes are a lot more challenging here." Alfred said while toying around with his phone. "Yeah, my French teacher is making me read Candide by Monday. And I'm pretty sure my history teacher is a communist." Matt chipped in, and Francis laughed.

"So what about friends? Did you make any new friends?" Francis always had cared more about the social aspect of school. Arthur was the one who cared about the academics. "Yeah, I met most the football team. They're all pretty cool. Except there's this one big Russian guy, he's really competitive with me already. We haven't even played yet." Alfred said, and Matt wanted to groan. He hated when Alfred got competitive. "What about you, Matt, did you make any new friends?" Francis asked. "A blind guy tricked me into skipping English with him, and I think I'm pretty cool with him and his friends now."

"Woah, you're friends with the blind guy?" Alfred exclaimed, throwing his phone onto the seat. "Uh, I guess?" Matt asked, kind of confused about how Alfred knew about Gilbert. "His brother is on the football team, and he hosts a lot of parties. All the guys on the team say that Gilbert is the coolest guy in the world." Alfred said. "Well, I guess he's pretty alright." Matt said. He wasn't sure if Gilbert could live up to Alfred's image of him. "He's basically a school legend." Alfred said. "He hit me in the head with his white cane," Matt told his brother. "Yeah, Ludwig said that's a habit he's picked up. When he can figure out where your head is, anyways." Alfred laughed. Matt laughed back in agreement.

It certainly was going to be an interesting school year.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Matt walked into Personal Finances to see the class empty except for Gilbert and a Dachshund. Matt sat down at his seat beside Gilbert, and looked at him incredulously. "Hey, Gilbert? Where's Mr. Zwingli?" He asked. "Oh, getting the principal." Gilbert replied like it was nothing. "I'm guessing it's because of the wiener dog?" Matt asked. "His name's Frederick. He's my seeing eye dog." Gilbert acted as if all blind people had Dachshund seeing eye dogs. "It's a wiener dog." Matt couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"He has a harness, he's a seeing eye dog." Gilbert said in a fake-offended voice as he stroked Frederick's back. Matt was speechless. Mr. Zwingli walked in not long after, looking upset. "They said I have to let you keep the dog, since I can't prove he isn't actually a seeing eye dog. Roderich won't be pleased to know you brought your family dog to school, though." Mr. Zwingli huffed. Gilbert smirked. "I don't care what Specs thinks. Opa thought it was funny and let me do it." Gilbert just laughed, and class started.

After 1st period ended, Gilbert and Matt walked to 2nd. "'Scuse me, pardon me. Get out of the way, asshole." Gilbert announced as he pushed through the crowd of people in his way, dragging Matt behind him. Matt heard people whispering about the dog, and, Gilbert surely did too. They both ignored it, and went on to class. 2nd period went by fast, and Mr. Jones assigned a book report. Matt decided he was going to read Candide for that class too. (Sure, it was a Current Events class, but, Candide was current events at some point.)

After class, Gilbert was standing outside his classroom, but his dog was gone. "So where's Frederick?" Matt asked once he was in earshot of the albino. "Apparently he pissed on the floor. So they made my Opa come get him. Guess Frederick just wasn't ready for the guide dog life." Gilbert said, and Matt laughed. Gilbert grabbed Matt's arm, and pulled him through the hall. "So, I'm guessing I won't be able to trick you into skipping again?" Gilbert asked once Matt stopped in front of his class. "It's an AP class, I've gotta be there." Matt said, and hoped that Gilbert would accept that. "Well, you know where I'll be if you change your mind," Gilbert said, and walked towards the cafeteria, tapping his cane along the floor as he did so. Matt sighed, relieved that he could go to class today.

The class was taught by an eccentric Australian named Mr. Anderson. He called Matt out almost as soon as he walked into class. "You're the newbie, aren't you?" He asked. Matt looked around for a second before answering. "Uh, yes?" "Heard you spent third period in the cafeteria yesterday, instead of in my class." Mr. Anderson accused, and Matt panicked for a moment. How could he know that. "I can explain-" Matt stuttered out, but he was cut off by a laugh from Mr. Anderson. "Don't worry about it. Beilschmidt and I have a one-on-one class and he told me all about it. Don't skip my class in particular anymore and we'll be fine." Mr. Anderson chuckled, and Matt chuckled nervously back.

The class was pretty easy for Matt, and went by fast. When Matt left the class, he saw Gilbert standing outside the classroom. "Waiting on someone?" Matt asked and touched his arm. "You, actually. Walk with me." Gilbert took hold of Matt's arm, and they walked towards their next class. "So, I think someone I know has a crush on you," Gilbert said in a singsong voice. "Are we in middle school?" Matt asked mockingly. "If you're going to act like that, then I won't tell you who it is." Gilbert turned in Matt's general direction and stuck out his tongue. "Oh my god, you're like, 12. Who is it?" Matt asked, but Gilbert just laughed. "Sorry, promised them I wouldn't tell." Gilbert said, smirking, and went into his classroom. "He's a middle schooler." Matt said with a sigh.

In 5th period, Jan approached the science group with a large grin on his face. "So my parents and sister are headed to Ocean City for Friday and the weekend, and they're leaving their car for me. You know what that means," He said, twirling a ring of keys around his finger. A wicked grin grew on Gilbert's face to match Jan's. "You know what that means?" He asked, and Jan nodded. "Lovino, call Antonio. Right now." Gilbert commanded to the younger student.

"What? No. I know what you're planning. I won't be a part of it, you remember what happened last time." Lovino huffed, and Matt was confused. What were they talking about? "Oh, come on. We've grown up, we won't get caught again." Gilbert responded. "And I'm graduating, so this will be the last time we'll be able to do something like this." Jan chipped in. "Uh, what exactly are you guys doing?" Matt asked, concerned that his new friends were going to do something that could land them in jail.

"Not 'you guys,' Matt. You should be asking, 'What are we doing?' Because you're coming with us." Gilbert said, and Matt was flattered for a moment that he was being included in plans when he had barely just met the people he was starting to consider friends. But, then he remembered, from what he had heard, they were going to do something shady. "Oh, okay, uh, what exactly are _we _doing?" Matt rephrased his question. "Well, Jan's gonna drive us to Antonio's family's beach house in Virginia Beach, and we're gonna have a little end of summer party." Gilbert said with a smile.

"No, we aren't! Because you all are going to fuck up and then Antonio is going to come crying to me, _again._" Lovino complained. "We won't get in trouble again! Call your boyfriend!" Gilbert commanded again. "Boyfriend?" Matt teased, and Lovino turned red. "He isn't my boyfriend!" Lovino said defensively. "You and I both remember last May at the party." Gilbert laughed, and Lovino got even redder. "You promised not to bring that up-" Lovino sputtered, which made Gilbert laugh even more. "We were playing Spin the Bottle, I was drunk, it wasn't my fault!" Lovino was blood red, and Matt was getting a bit of second hand embarrassment, so he decided to cut in to save his younger friend.

"So, Lovino made out with Antonio, but what else happened last year? He made it seem like you all got into some trouble." Matt asked. "We accidentally got a bit too drunk and trashed Antonio's parent's beach house. And he got in trouble. But we've learned from our mistakes, and it won't happen again. So call Antonio, god damn it!" Gilbert turned to Lovino at the end of his sentence to bark the order to him. "Do it yourself!" Lovino barked back, face still burning. "I can't see, and Jan doesn't like talking on the phone. And we can't just ask out brand new friend Matt to give him a ring. So it's gotta be you." Gilbert said, and Lovino sighed loudly.

"Fine. Fine, okay. I fucking hate you, okay, but I'll call him." Lovino complained, and pulled an iPhone out of his pocket, and hit a few numbers on it. "Hey, bastard. Your friends plan on using your beach house this weekend." He said, and waited a moment for a reply. "You're okay with it? Even after what happened last time?" Lovino said, getting visibly angrier. "You're going to let them do it? Wow, you're a bigger dumbass than I had previously thought." He rolled his eyes and huffed into the phone. "Yeah. Bye. Bastard." He hung up the phone and looked at the group accusingly. "I hate all of you. Except Matt. I haven't seen him drunk yet. Don't make me hate you too." He grumbled, and opted to ignore the group and take notes furiously for the rest of class.

After school was over, Francis came to pick up his sons. He asked the stereotypical question, "What did you boys do at school today?" and Alfred gushed about how football practice started soon, and how wonderful his AP Biology class was. When it came to Matt's turn to tell Francis, he just said "I think I was invited to spend the weekend with my friends in Virginia Beach." That caused Francis to light up and squeal. "Oh, my little boy has his first American friends!" The statement caused Alfred to fake an offended look, and scoff, but Francis and Matt ignored him. "So, I can go?" Matt asked hopefully. Francis laughed and pulled into their driveway. "Ask your Dad." Francis replied.

So Matt bounded into the house. "Hey, Dad, can I head out to Virginia Beach with my friends this weekend? Yes? Cool, thanks, gonna go pack!" Matt ran past Arthur and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Woah, there. Sit down and talk about it. What are you doing?" Arthur asked, and patted on the couch next to him. Matt sighed and sat down. He should have known that wouldn't work with Arthur. Francis, maybe, but not Arthur. "My friend's parents have a beach house in Virginia Beach. They're about to close it up for the season, but they want to get a last use out of it, so, they said my friend could invite people out to it for the weekend." Matt said, and he was a little worried about how easily he could lie. America was corrupting him.

"And who is this friend?" Arthur asked. "His name is Antonio." "And his last name is?" Arthur asked. Shit, Matt didn't know that. "I, uh. Don't actually know. My friend Gilbert is bringing me as a plus one." Matt said. "So, it's a party." Arthur accused. Matt's eyes went wide. "What? No! I don't party, Dad. We're just hanging out for the weekend." Matt said, and it was true. Matt was just going to hang out. He didn't want to get involved in any drinking or other illicit activities. "Who all will be there?" Arthur asked, and Matt was pretty sure he could answer that truthfully. "Well, my friend Gilbert. Maybe his brother, Ludwig. Alfred knows Ludwig, he's on the football team. Maybe Ludwig's friend, I think his name is Feliciano? Then, maybe Feliciano's brother Lovino. Then, Antonio and Jan."

"Do you know any of these people's last names?" Arthur asked, still accusingly. "Yes, Dad! I just don't know Antonio's. Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt, Feliciano and Lovino Vargas, and Jan van der Heide." Matt said. Arthur thought for a moment, and then spoke. "And when will you be home?" "Sunday night." Matt replied. He wasn't sure, but he assumed that would be when. "Hm. I'll think about it." Arthur responded. "We're leaving tomorrow after school, you have to give me an answer now!" Matt complained. "I'll have an answer for you in the morning, Matt." Arthur said.

"Oh, come on, mon cher. Let our boy go out for the weekend." Francis said, coming into the living room. "Not now, Francis." Arthur replied. Matt gave his papa a hopeful look, and he chuckled and went to rest on the arm of the couch beside Arthur. "He's a good boy. He always has been. You should trust him." Francis said. "Yes, but-" Arthur tried, but Francis cut him off. "If you don't let him go, all his friends will come back on Monday talking about their weekend, and poor Matthew will be alienated. Then he'll grow to detest you. Do you want that, cher?" Francis asked, and Arthur sighed. "Fine, go pack." He said, and Matt grinned. "Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Papa." He hugged both his fathers and ran upstairs to pack, excited for the weekend ahead.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Matt showed up to school with his duffle bag he had packed, excited for school to be over so he could go with his friends to the beach house. He went to Personal Finances to find Gilbert leaning on the wall by the doorway, with Ludwig by his side. "There he is." Ludwig said, and Gilbert grinned. "Great. Grab him." Gilbert responded, and Ludwig went and grabbed Matt by his arm. Matt was confused, and was even more confused when Gilbert and Ludwig started walking away from Matt and Gilbert's first period.

"Guys? Where are we going?" Matt asked. "We're going to Virginia Beach." Gilbert replied. He held onto Matt's arm as well, and was gripping it tight. "I thought we were doing that after school?" Matt asked. "Nope. Going right now. Captain's orders." Gilbert responded. "And who's the Captain?" "Captain is our driver. Jan. We gotta go now." Gilbert said, and Matt didn't know if he was okay with cutting school, but he knew Gilbert wouldn't let up, and that there wouldn't be a way for him to get to the beach house if he didn't go now. So, against his better judgment, Matt gave up and let his friends take him wherever they were going.

That ended up being the parking lot. They found Jan's car pretty easy- and Matt had to hold back a laugh when he found out it was a mini-van. He didn't get to laugh for long, though. He was quickly pushed into the back row of the van, where he sat with Lovino and Feliciano. They got out of the school parking lot easily, and got straight onto the interstate towards Virginia Beach.

It was a long drive, spent bickering over music and food, but Matt enjoyed it. However, by the time they had gotten to the beach, Matt was ready to get out and stretch his legs- and get away from the bickering Italians that sat beside him. (Lovino had complained the entire ride about being stuck between Matt and Feliciano.) So he gladly jumped out and approached the beach house. It had a great location; it was pretty isolated, the perfect place for a teenage party. It had a private beach, and a pool as well.

"Wow, is Antonio's family loaded or what?" Matt asked Lovino as they got out of the car. "Pretty much. His mom owns a chain of Mexican restaurants, so she makes lots of cash. They have a place like this in Barcelona, too." Lovino said, and Matt let out a low whistle. "Alright! Everyone grab something out of the back!" Ludwig boomed, distracting Matt from his thoughts. He walked to the back of the mini-van, and saw that it was stocked full of beer and food.

Despite the fact that he really didn't want to drink, he grabbed a 6 pack of Heineken and multiple bags of Doritos and lugged them inside, along with his duffle bag. He put the booze and food in the kitchen before flopping down onto the couch where Gilbert was sitting. "I love being blind. I never have to do any of the grunt work." He said, his feet propped on the coffee table and his arms behind his head. "Sounds great," Matt commented, before adding on, "Hey, Gilbert? Will it be cool if I don't drink?"

"Well, yeah, we won't bug you about it. The younger Vargas doesn't drink either. Can I ask why?" Gilbert asked. "Just, not a big drinker. I was hockey captain at my last school, and wouldn't risk it. Never got into drinking." Matt said, kind of embarrassed. He was afraid of coming off as a buzzkill. "You aren't a hockey captain anymore, are you? You should at least give it a shot. No pun intended." Gilbert laughed, and Matt laughed back. "That pun was definitely intended, and we both know that." "Yeah, okay, it was. You better have a beer before I make some more horrible drinking puns," Gilbert smirked, and Matt let out a long breath. "Yeah, okay. I'll try it, later on."

Within 30 minutes, the car was unpacked, and the kitchen was a buffet of junk food and alcohol. "Well, let's get this party started! Someone get me a beer!" Gilbert shouted. "It's noon, bruder. We aren't drinking yet." Ludwig said bluntly. "Pulling the blind card! Get me beer!" Gilbert shouted again. "That doesn't work on me and you know it. Drink as much as you want later, but we aren't drinking now." Ludwig replied, and Gilbert huffed, but accepted it.

"Well, I'm going out to the beach. You guys make yourself at home!" Antonio said cheerfully, and went outside, with Lovino following him. The rest of the group all went outside, except for Matt, Jan, and Gilbert. "Aren't you all coming outside?" Jan asked. "I will immediately get skin cancer, so, I'll sit inside." Gilbert said. "I'm a Canadian. It's like 35 degrees outside, no thanks, I'll melt." Matt said, and Jan gave him an almost relieved look. "God, it's good to hear people use Celsius." He shook himself out of it, and added, "Well, I'll be outside if you need me."

That left Matt alone inside with Gilbert. "Now that we're alone, how about you go and get me a beer, Mattie boy?" Gilbert asked. "No way, your brother has muscles the size of my head. I'm not getting on his bad side." Matt laughed. "You know, I'm not totally blind, I bet I can find the beer on my own," Gilbert said, and got off of the couch to tap his way to the kitchen. He came back with a bottle in his hand, and flopped beside Matt.

"See? Told you." Gilbert showed the bottle to Matt, and Matt had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Gilbert, that's hot sauce, you dork." Matt chuckled when Gilbert's expression turned shocked. "Can't even get a beer in this house." The albino grumbled, and dropped the bottle. "You'll be able to drink soon enough." Matt said, and turned on the TV to pass the time until it was cool and dark enough for him and Gilbert to join their friends outside.

The time didn't pass quickly enough, though, and by 4, Gilbert had slathered on enough sunscreen for 3 people, and demanded that Matt help him get outside. Though he wasn't eager to go out in the 90 degree weather, he accompanied his friend to the patio by the pool. Gilbert immediately jumped in the pool where his brother and Feliciano was, but Matt decided to hang out at the patio with Jan, who was grilling burgers for everyone.

"So, how do you take your meat?" Jan asked. "Pink as you can get it." Matt replied, and Jan made a disgusted face. "What? I was raised by a Frenchman. I'd eat it raw if possible." Matt said, and Jan just looked at the food he was cooking. "Well, here. It's pretty pink." Jan said, and flipped a burger onto a bun for Matt. Matt took it gratefully, and took a bite. "You're going to get salmonella." Jan said, raising his eyebrows. "Nah. You get E. Coli from beef. Salmonella is chicken." Matt said, and Jan raised his eyebrows. "Goddamn Frenchies," Jan complained, and Matt laughed. After a second of keeping an annoyed façade, Jan started to laugh too.

Matt hung out at the grill with Jan until the other burgers finished cooking and the Dutchman beckoned for everyone to grab one. The first person to get his burger was Gilbert, who stumbled blindly out of the pool to Jan. "Lud, I'm having a beer with dinner, you can't stop me!" He shouted to his brother. "Good luck finding them," Ludwig said, smirking slightly. Matt laughed, and grabbed Gilbert's arm. "You've waited long enough. Come on."

After dragging Gilbert to the fridge, Matt grabbed a beer for Gilbert and opened it. "Danke schoen, mein Freund." Gilbert said with a smile. "De rien, mon ami." Matt replied. Gilbert made a disgusted face, and it caught Matt by surprise. "Fucking Frenchies," he said, though Matt could tell he was joking. "Is that the general consensus in this group?" Matt asked, and Gilbert nodded and took a drink from his beer. "Ja, ja. But, I mean, fuck the Italians, Dutch, and Spanish, too. Only race that's worthy is the German race," Gilbert said, and Matt looked at him with a bit of shock. "Wow, that sounded _very_ Hitler-esque." Gilbert looked to be in thought for a moment before shrugging and taking another drink. "I'm not a Nazi. Roderich's a Jew."

Ludwig walked in right when Gilbert said that, and looked flustered. "Is he being nationalist? Because he acts like that sometimes, as a joke, we aren't Nazis-" Matt cut him off with a laugh. "I'm sure if you were Nazis you would have already killed this one off," Matt gestured to Gilbert, "It's cool." Ludwig nodded, and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. "If only. Help yourself out to a beer." He said, and grabbed another bottle of Heineken for Matt. "Uh, I'm not really sure-" Matt stammered, before being cut off by Gilbert. "Come on Mattie, you told me you'd at least try!"

Oh yeah, Matt had told Gilbert he would try. So, with that, he gave into the peer pressure, and took the beer from Ludwig with a quiet "Thanks." He twisted off the cap off, and raised the bottle to his lips. He took a drink… and almost spit it out. "Oh my god- this is disgusting! How could you Germans make something so gross?" Matt spluttered, and put the bottle down. "Actually…" Gilbert started, and trailed off. "Actually what?" Matt asked.

"Actually, Heineken is a Dutch beer," Jan boomed from behind Matt. He approached the table and grabbed the beer Matt put down. "And if you don't like it, I'll gladly drink it." Jan raised the bottle to his lips and took several large gulps. "We've got any kind of alcohol you want, if beer isn't your thing. Though, I don't understand why you wouldn't like beer… Canadians like whiskey, right?" Ludwig asked while rummaging through the cooler that was filled to the brim with various bottles. "Uh, I guess?"

Ludwig poured a shot out for Matt. "Either way, this is a high proof. You'll be drunk before you taste it." He pushed the shot to Matt. Matt laughed and picked it up. "I thought you were the responsible one?" He asked, eyeing the amber liquid in his glass. "I just try to keep my brother from causing any more physical or emotional harm to himself than he already does. Doesn't mean I can't have a few beers every once in a while." Ludwig shrugged, and chugged the rest of his beer. "Bruder, you and I both know you'll have more than a few beers," Gilbert smiled.

Matt laughed nervously, still eyeing his whiskey without drinking it. A hand rested on his shoulder, which startled Matt. "Are you going to drink that, or will I have to drink it too?" Jan said in his ear. "No, uh, I'll- I'll drink it." Matt stuttered. "Good," Jan said, and went to lean on the counter beside Gilbert. Jan smirked at him, and Matt shot back the whiskey before he had a chance to continue worrying about it.

As soon as he had drank his shot, Matt coughed. Hard. "Fuck! That burns!" He said, slamming down the shot glass. "Here, chaser." Jan tossed a Coke to Matt, who opened it and drank it gratefully. "That was so fucking disgusting! Pour me another shot." He passed the glass back to Ludwig, who filled it without question. "I don't think I've ever heard you drop the f bomb, Mattie," Gilbert laughed. Matt took his second shot, chased it with Coke, and gave Gilbert a look. "You've known me three days," He said, and everyone laughed.

By the time it was dark outside, everyone was at least a little tipsy, if not shitfaced drunk. Matt was shitfaced. He sat outside with Jan at the beach, sitting on the sand as the tide came in. They were both sopping wet, and giggling each time the tide hit them. "God, you know, this is the first time I've ever been to the ocean. It's pretty great," Matt slurred. "Yeah? You're beautiful- I mean, shit, you're right, it's beautiful," Jan stammered, and Matt laughed. "Jan van der Heide, you are drunk." Matt said. "Matthew Bonnefoy-Kirkland, _you_ are drunk," Jan countered. "You fucked my last name up, it's Kirkland-Bonnefoy." Matt giggled.

"Sorry, not like I know you very well… Tell me about yourself, _Kirkland-Bonnefoy._" Jan asked. It caught Matt by surprise, but, he started rambling on anyways. "You already know my story, Jan. I'm a brand new American, just like you," Matt hummed, swaying his head. "No, that's not your story. Tell me about what you like, what you do, that shit. Tell me about like, how you lost your virginity, not about being from Canada, that's almost as boring as being from the Netherlands." Jan laughed. "I'm actually the biggest fucking virgin in the world, which is crazy, because I was like, the most popular guy in school back in Calgary. Man, I had the hottest bod, too. I had girls and guys falling all over me- and I didn't do shit, because I was waiting for the right one." Matt laughed.

"Aw, how sweet. You're a fucking Canadian stereotype." Jan giggled. "Oh, yeah? How did you lose your virginity?" Matt asked defensively. Jan giggled again, and leaned his head back. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He said. "I had like, 6 shots of whiskey, I'll believe anything." Matt hummed. So, Jan leaned close to Matt's ear. "I'm a virgin too," he whispered, and Matt and Jan both broke down laughing. Once they had calmed down, Jan sighed. "But enough about where our dicks haven't been. Tell me more about _you._" Jan said. "There isn't much about me besides hockey and virginity. Sorry if you think I'm more interesting than that," Matt laughed. "Don't worry. There's not much more to me than football and virginity," Jan laughed right back.

"You're on the football team with my brother and Ludwig?" Matt slurred, and Jan sighed. "You're metric on the outside, but full imperial inside," he said, shaking his head. "What the fuck does that mean?" Matt asked, utterly confused. "You talk in Celsius, but you think in American football, babe." Jan said, raising his eyebrows and smirking. Matt just gave him a confused look. "Soccer, Matt. I play soccer." Jan finally explained, and Matt nodded in understanding.

There was a pause in the conversation, during which Matt fell to his side, his head falling into Jan's lap. "Jan, I'm shitfaced." The tide came in, and splashed Jan's lap and Matt's face. He coughed a bit, and spat up salt water. Jan laughed, and pulled Matt out of his lap. "You aren't going to drown in my lap, Matt, get up." As soon as Jan had pulled him up, Matt fell back down, on Jan's shoulder this time. "Come on, Mattie. Keep off me," Jan tried to keep Matt up, but he started to fall again.

"Here, I'll keep you up." Jan wrapped an arm around Matt's shoulder tightly, and that kept him up. Matt giggled and leaned into Jan's embrace. "Look at us, all cuddled up on the beach at night. It's almost romantic," Matt teased. And then he abruptly fell onto the sand. "What?" He turned over to see that Jan had jumped up, and was standing above him. "Shit, that wasn't the right thing to do. I, uh, thought that there was a crab." He sat back down next to Matt and put his arm back around him, a little less tightly that time.

"I didn't see any crabs," Matt drew out the last word, "Maybe you're just nervous about holding a pretty boy like me, Virgin Boy Wonder." Matt slurred, and he looked over to Jan. "You're one to talk, Captain Virginity." Jan said, and Matt laughed, and then let his head fall on Jan's shoulder. "Fuck, I'm gonna pass out. Soon." Matt said. "Well, go inside. I'm not gonna let you pass out in the surf," Jan said, pushing Matt's head away. "I can't get up. You gotta help me," Matt whined, which made Jan sigh. "Yeah, yeah, come on." He said, and helped Matt up and into the house.

It took some searching, but Matt and Jan managed to find an empty room. Jan dumped Matt onto the bed and fell in beside him. "Hope you don't mind if I pass out in the same bed. I'm not risking finding another half-naked Italian in any of the other guest rooms." Jan said. "I don't care, it's a king," Matt said and laid down on his back. "Ah, ah. Sleep on your side." Jan pushed Matt onto his side, and before he could protest, he was asleep.


End file.
